Two more chances to see ‘The Godfather, Part II’

Sonny's gone, Fredo's not to be trusted and Hyman Roth is lurking. What is Michael Corleone going to do?

That's the situation that Francis Ford Coppola presents us with in "The Godfather, Part II," the 1974 Oscar-winning film that continues the story initiated two years before with his first Oscar-winning adaptation of Mario Puzo's novel.

But what makes "Part II" arguably an even better film than the original is that along with Michael's struggle it documents father Vito Corleone's rise from just another Sicilian guy trying to survive the mean streets of New York to becoming the don of the Corleone crime family. And along with a powerful performance by Al Pacino, it gives us Robert De Niro as a young Vito (for which he won his first Oscar, for Best Supporting Actor).

In any event, you still have two chances to see "The Godfather, Part II" on a local theater's big screen. The film will play at 7 tonight at the Regal Cinemas sites at Northtown Mall and Coeur d'Alene's Riverstone Stadium. It will also play at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

To paraphrase Vito (and later Michael), this is an offer you can't refuse.